Quotes/aphorisms that have actually helped you in life

[goofball]

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself.
-Friedrich Nietzsche

[IronFly]

bump.

Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.

-- Sun Tzu, Art of War

Difficulties show men what they are. In case of any difficulty remember that God has pitted you against a rough antagonist that you may be a conqueror, and this cannot be without toil.

-- Epictetus

[IronFly]

even more Sun Tzu, cause the dude is so awesome:

Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate.

What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease.

[Jamougha]

"In order to live, you must be willing to die" - Amir Vahedi

[hexag1]

Seek advice of he who governs himself well
-Leonardo, from his notebooks

While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die.
-Leonardo, from his notebooks

Get busy living, or get busy dying
-Stephen King, from 'Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption'

[Dimon]

"Hold on tightly - let go lightly"

[onthebutton]

"The better part of valour is discretion;"

Falstaff, Henry IV--Shakespeare

[MyTurn2Raise]

what I'm living on these days:

This is somethimes called "f*** you money," which, in spire of its coarseness, means that it allows you to act like a Victorian gentleman, free from slavery. It is a pyschological buffer: the capital is not so large as to make you spoiled-rich, but large enough to give you the freedom to choose a new occupation without excessive consideration of the financial rewards. It shields you from prostituting your mind and frees you from outside authority--any outside authority.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb--The Black Swan

"Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one."
&
"That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly."
--Thomas Paine

"Liberty not only means that the individual has both the opportunity and the burden of choice;
it also means that he must bear the consequences of his actions. Liberty and responsibility are inseparable."
&
"It is always from a minority acting in ways different from what the majority would prescribe that the majority in the end learns to do better."
--Friedrich Hayek

The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant.
--John Stuart Mill On Liberty

"The best moments usually occur when a person's body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile. Optimal experience is thus something that we make happen."
&
"the phenomenology of enjoyment has eight major components. When people reflect on how it feels when their experience is most positive, they mention at least one, and often all, of the following. First, the experience usually occurs when we confront tasks we have a chance of completing. Second, we must be able to concentrate on what we are doing. Third and fourth, the concentration is usually possible because the task undertaken has clear goals and provides immediate feedback. Fifth, one acts with a deep but effortless involvement that removes from awareness the worries and frustrations of everyday life. Sixth, enjoyable experiences allow people to exercise a sense of control over their actions. Seventh, concern for the self disappears, yet paradoxically the sense of self emerges stronger after the flow experience is over. Finally, the sense of the duration of time is altered; hours pass by in minutes, and minutes can stretch out to seem like hours. The combination of all these elements causes a sense of deep enjoyment that is so rewarding people feel that expending a great deal of energy is worthwhilesimply to be able to feel it."
--Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

[Ihsan]

"Life isn't fair. Sometimes, it's better than fair." - My old church pastor.

[NicksDad1970]

"Always make your family proud". If you do that then you'll always do fine.

I guess that's unless your family is mass murderers or something.